Alternative
by Horseybella1197
Summary: The alternative to what happened to Katniss right after the tracker jacker incident, and meeting up with Rue. What if she was there, tending to Katniss while she was out cold? How does Katniss react? R&R. Based on a thought I had


I can't remember this part, I'm letting a friend borrow my book, so don't get mad if I did it wrong.

* * *

When I awake, sunlight is streaming through the trees, but it is also trying to break the fog that hangs in the air. The ground is wet, from my sweat, or rain I have no clue. Just moving my arm take an enormous effort. I pick my head up from the ground, and assess myself. I am still bleeding from the fireball I encountered the one night.

Tracker jacker lumps have formed on my cheek and knee. As my head pounds, I look over at this area I am in. I spot a honeysuckle nearby, and it has a bee on it, droning softly. I drag myself over to the bush, and pluck it. I bit the stem and suck the juice inside.

It has the ability to make me feel a warm sensation in my body, starting from my stomach to my tips of my fingers and toes. It makes me feel relaxed, but only for a second. That's when I hear it. The soft tread in the forest. Light padding, as if it were an animal. But I know better. Possibly a tribute that has found me. I quickly scan the area, looking for my arrows. I curse silently as I see they are out of reach, along with my pack of supplies. The person is steadily approaching now. I lie back down, waiting for death. I can't believe I'm giving up. I silently say goodbye to Peeta. To my family. To my friends by at the Hob. To Gale.

Poor Gale. I can't imagine what's he's doing now, possibly looking away in shame as I give myself up so easily.

The figure comes into view holding something bulky. A spear or axe I presume. I hear that it's a girl, and is humming softly. She walks over to me, and rests a hand on my forehead. I try to breathe evenly, but I end up suppressing the need to hyperventilate. The girl then moves her hand to my cheek, whispering "Oh Katniss. Why do you push yourself so hard when you don't need to?"

Push myself? I am literally fighting for my life. How the hell can she say that? I swiftly open my eyes, and sink my teeth onto her lower arm, biting until I taste blood. I grab her, holding onto her with my life. The girl doesn't move. She flinches when I bite her, but does nothing more. She looks at me with kindness, and I recognize those warm brown eyes. The brown tinted skin. Dark hair. It's Rue. Little Rue.

She smiles and coos "Hello Katniss. You took a hard fall two days ago. You're lucky I found you, or those Careers might have found you first. I made sure you were alright, like you weren't sick or anything. You had a high fever, so I took some herbs and helped you." She said in a soft voice. She drapes her other arm around my shoulder, attempting to help me in a sitting position.

In response, I bite down harder, drawing more blood. The metallic taste of blood touches my tongue in my mouth, and I see my reflection in Rue's eyes. My hair is a mess, my eyes look murderous.

"Go ahead." Rue says softly. "You can kill me." This takes me by surprise. I'm so surprised that I actually loosen my grip on her arm. She gave me a weak smile. "Katniss." she whispers. "I need you to promise me something." I don't reply. "I need you to give your all in these Games. The Careers have more members with them. Peeta isn't with them, as far as I know he's-" she doesn't finish her sentence. I clamp my teeth back into her flesh so hard she gasps. "Sorry. Got carried away." She pants. I loosen it a bit, but not as I did before.

My mind is reeling with hundreds of questions. Where is Peeta? Is he okay? Is he even alive? What about the Careers? Why did Rue help me? How long have I been out? What day is it? How did I survive? My mind starts to spin at that question. Peeta. He saved me. Took a wound for me. Is probably dead because of me. I start to tear, and Rue seems to notice. "Katniss," she says quietly. "I need you to let go, I'm losing too much blood, and your starting to hyperventilate." I start to sob, but it is muffled. I have no idea why. Possibly because of Peeta missing. Possibly because a group of people are coming to kill me. The lack of sleep, anxiety, stress, fatigue. The list could go on.

"Katniss. I need you to let go. Your leg is bleeding. Come on now." Rue tells me. I slowly unlatch my mouth from her arm, and immediately break down. Rue encloses me into a hug, and I cry into her shoulder. I try to suppress them, but then I start to hiccup. Now I sound like a complete fool. Hiccupping and crying like a little girl.

"I'm…sorry." I say, the hiccups breaking the sentence. Rue shakes her head. "It's okay Katniss, it's okay." But it's not okay. Peeta's somewhere out there. Somewhere where I can't reach him. He's possibly dying. I haven't noticed, but Rue has been tugging at my pant leg up and over my wound. I gasp in pain. She see's this and tells me to relax. I roll on my side, gripping my pack she has retrieved near the tree I was near.

Rue cleans out the wound with water, and I do all I can not to pass out. Rue goes out to gather more medicine for my leg, and I check my leg. I think I almost retch.

It has burned about a hole the size of two fists into my calf. I can remember when my mother brought in a man from the mine, and he was burned so badly that you could see his bone. That was when I left to go hunt. Gone away from the horrible wound. Come to think of it, I don't even like to be around a cold.

I look at my calf, and see my muscle, and I smell festering flesh. I dig a hole for me, cause this time, I do retch. I bury it, pounding my vomit into the ground. I lay there, shivering, waiting for Rue to come back. When she does, I feel tears streak down my face.

"Are you okay?" she asks me. I shake my head. "No" I whisper, my voice sounding husky and foreign. "It's not your fault." I coughed wetly into my fist, staring at the blood in my hand. Rue sighs. She starts to put these green leaves into her mouth, and chews them. After a minute or so, she takes the green wad of leaves out of her mouth and onto my knee with the tracker jacker lump. I was smart enough to pull the stinger out, because I would still be delusional if I hadn't. The insects are bigger than an average yellow jacket, but it's a solid golden yellow.

Whenever Gale and I had come across them in the woods, we would head in the other direction. The tracker jacker venom targets your nerve system, tugging and prying at your worst fears. How many ways to watch Prim die. The mutilation of the Avoxes, Peeta dying, Gale being tortured, reliving my fathers last moments before he blew up in the mine. These are the things they tug at.

The sound of feet alerts me. My eyes have been closed, and Rue is still by my side, so it can't be her. With my head pressed to the ground, I can tell it is footsteps, not just my imagination. "Rue" I whisper, although it isn't quite a whisper. It's barely audible. She nods her head slowly. I can see her glancing to the north. She slowly moves to my backpack, and somehow un-zippers it quietly. She moving with caution, I can tell. Then I see what she removes. My bow and arrow. They look clean, as if nothing happened to them. "Katniss," she says, barely audible to my ears. "can you shoot?" I nod, itching to get that silver weapon in my hands.

Rue helps me sit up, and despite the burning I feel in my leg, I can sense no other injury. Rue makes her way up into a neighboring tree, silently, almost as if she is invisible. I can see the outline of the figure now through the haze, and I can vaguely tell it's a boy. My heart pounds, climbing up into my throat. The boy is crouching, obviously from an injury of some sort, and he is also limping. I wait until he's in range, then I see his face. I swallow, because the sight I see is horrific.

His face is red with welts and blood. His hairline looks wet, along with his hands and pant leg. The spear isn't what he's holding; it's actually imbedded into his torso sideways. His green eyes look glassy, and he sees me, whimpering. I feel sorry for him. He reaches out, pointing to my arrow, and then, bringing his hand back to his heart, starts to cry a bit. The boy is clearly want me to kill him. Take away his misery. The thing is, I _can _take him out. End his suffering. That's what I do exactly. The boy give me a watery smile as I pull back my arrow, and gives me a strangled 'thank you.' as I home in on his heart. I look in his eyes once more, and then my fingers release the arrow.

I look away as I hear the _Th-wump _on the arrow piercing his skin. He falls to the ground with a _thump _and the cannon doesn't fire. Rue is at his side now, and I crawl toward them. When I reach him, he grasps my hand tightly. His eyes have lost a shimmer, and tears are in them. I hear him say it again, _"Thank you" _but he has not died yet. Rue takes her knife, and above his heart, she swiftly kills him. What made those wounds on the boy, I never want to find out. I take a closer look and see they are bite and claw marks. Some animal I think. But I don't know any animals that carry a spear around.

Rue finished cleaning my leg after the mocking jay had announced that the hovercraft was nearby to take the body of the boy. After that happens I ask Rue "Rue? What happened. As you saw, I only woke up today, and you said you were taking care of me for two days. How long have I been out?" I can only remember the tracker jacker incident like it happened last night.

Rue tells me that I have been our for two days, and when I ask her who has died, she answers "Both district 3 is dead, along with Glimmer. The boy tribute from four is dead." District four. Foxface. "Rue? You know the girl from four?" she nods. "I named her Foxface. We need to be careful around her. Something about her creeps me out" I tell her. Rue listens intently. She agrees not to go anywhere near Foxface, although we do have an alliance going, Rue and I. Rue shows me different plants I should and shouldn't touch. I show her how to use a bow when my leg gets a bit better, but she isn't very good at it.

We sit here in a tree, looking up at the sky, when we hear it. A cannon. I gulp. Could that be Peeta? I shiver at that. "You weren't joking, about wanting me for an ally?" she asks."No, I meant it," I say. I can almost hear Haymitch groaning as I team up with this wispy child. But I want her. Because she's a survivor, and I trust her, and why not admit it? She reminds me of Prim.

Rue says "Katniss? Where did you get that pin?" I realize she is talking about my mocking jay pin that is on my shirt. "I got is from a friend back in 12. She gave it to me as a gift." I tell her. Rue then shows me something amazing. She cups her hand around her mouth, and sings a four note melody, which some mocking jay's pick up. I un-pin my mocking jay and hold it out to her. "Here," I tell her, "you can have it. You seem to have a use for it anyway."

Rue shakes her head. "When I first saw you and the pin in the games, I knew I could trust you" Rue says. She close my hand over the pin. I smile and put it back on my shirt. We both look up in the sky as we hear the anthem playing, and the face of the boy who died today comes up, and for a second, he's unrecognizable. He had brown hair, and deep sea green eyes. He was tan, and had a cute little nose that is crooked somewhat. I realize he's from 6, and then his counterpart is there, a girl about 15, with dark skin and brown hair. She also has green eyes.

I feel dizzy all of a sudden, and Rue catches me before I pass out. "I've got you Katniss." she says. "I've got you.'

Then next time I surface, it is the next day. My head is pounding, and from the look of it, it is midday. The next few days go by.

Rue and I devise a plan to take out the Careers food supply. I take it out, only to lose hearing in my left ear. Then as I scan the area for Rue, I hear her scream.

"Rue!" I scream, letting her know I'm coming. So they know I'm coming. But I scream to get the attention away from her. "Katniss!" I hear her scream. "Katniss!"

"I'm coming Rue! Rue!" I answer back. Well, more like scream back. I reach a clearing as I see her, hopelessly entangled in a net, when the spear enters her body.

* * *

I am evil. Hehe


End file.
